There are many gates to Heaven. Nowadays, however, they are all closed. All of them, that is, except one. The Gate Of Tears. When someone prays to G-d with eyes of tears, those prayers fly straight through the Gate Of Tears. The Gate of Tears is never closed.

If so, why does it need a gate?

Take a walk around an orphanage at night. You won’t hear a sound. In spite of the many young children there, no one cries. We only cry when we know someone will answer us. In an orphanage, no one is there to answer the tears.

Yom Kippur is a day when we should cry. We should cry because we know there is Someone there to answer us. That we have a Father, a King who will deal with us with charity and kindness if we throw ourselves on His mercy.

There’s another kind of tears though. A crying of hopelessness. A crying which doesn’t implore G-d’s help. It’s a crying which says that we don’t believe G-d can really help us, or worse, that there is no One there to hear our tears.

That’s why the Gate of Tears has a gate. For the tears of hopelessness.

• The Kotzker Rebbe